tater schuld wrote:
NOTE: this experience happened in the U.S.A. and other countries may differ

a friend of mine had a phonograph player in his basement. the unit operated
fine, but if you touched a metal part of the player, and a metal support
post in the basement, you would get a mild shock (about half of what I've
gotten from touching 110v mains by accident)

This is because it was a hot chassis player. That is no longer acceptable
in the US, but it was very popular for many years for cheap consumer electronics
to operate without a power transformer and use a hot chassis. For almost
any cheap table radio, record player, or TV set made before 1970 this was
the case, and for a lot of TV sets well into the eighties it remained the
case.

Later on in life, I found out that if you attempt to bypass the safety
feature of polarized p,ugs for non-grounded equipment, or if the electrical
outlet was wired incorrectly, this happens.

That just makes the problem worse, yes.

as you are on a foriegn system, I cannot be sure, but I'd advise to switch
the live and neutral lines. and also put an earth line in there also.

Grounding is a good idea, but if there is chassis leakage, that is bad and
it should be fixed if possible.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."